In comments to the Florida Supreme Court, groups representing thousands of business defense lawyers expressed their delight at the Court’s prospective adoption of the U.S Supreme Court’s summary judgment standard, and offered a suggestion.
The groups, including the Florida Defense Lawyers Association and the International Association of Defense Counsel, encouraged the Court to clarify that its procedural change applies to all motions decided by a trial court on or after May 21, the date the Court set for final implementation after a public comment period. Such a clarification would also cover earlier-filed motions that are pending on May 1.
“The practical effect of the amendment would be delayed—perhaps substantially—if trial courts interpret the amendment to apply only to motions (or cases) filed on or after May 1,” the defense groups said.
Carbone
The procedural change stems from Wilsonart, LLC, et al. v. Lopez, where the Florida Supreme Court reviewed a trial court’s weighing of video evidence against an eyewitness statement, and then granting summary judgment in the defendant’s favor. An appeals court, relying on the state standard, ruled that the trial court was in error because of the conflicting testimony, even if it the conflict were merely technical.
“The outcome in Wilsonart, the supreme court found, evinced ‘a deeper flaw’ in the state’s summary judgment standard—an unreasonably high hurdle to clear for the moving party,” an analysis by the National Law Review said.
In separate comments, the international business defense firm, Shook, Hardy & Bacon, wrote that a motion for summary judgment is used frequently to dispose of meritless civil claims before they go to trial.
“Without this important procedure,” the comments said, “the strain on judicial resources and financial costs of litigating meritless civil claims would be astronomical.”
“The new Rule will promote fairness and equality in the law, since civil defendants in Florida state court will no longer be held to a higher, more rigid summary judgment standard than their counterparts in Florida federal courts,” Shook continued. “The application of similar summary judgment standards in federal and state courts will also discourage plaintiffs’ lawyers from ‘forum shopping’ or joining unnecessary parties to defeat diversity jurisdiction and avoid litigating their claims in federal court where they are less likely to survive summary judgment.”